Fyah Roiall (pronounced Royal) is one of Jamaica’s more unique voices in hip hop, effortlessly bringing hip hop and Jamaican culture together.
With a charismatic flow born from his sharp political mind and social consciousness, Fyah Roiall is inspired by the creativity of early Jamaican reggae and dancehall music, and excited by his Jamaican brothers and sisters in the UK diaspora leading the grime, garage and dubstep scenes.
Fyah comes to Australia this month as part of Australian producer Monkey Marc's Vital Sound tour that also features UK iconoclast Rider Shafique. Here, Fyah Roiall shares with us about his life and his craft.
What's been keeping you busy in 2019?
Visuals. I've been working on new visuals all year honestly, and while my songs for the album are being mixed I have the room to work on new ones. It's been intense, but it always works out for the best.
Coming from Jamaica, what led you to hip hop rather than more traditional reggae and dancehall styles?
Exactly that, 'coming from Jamaica'; personally, I hate stereotypical thinking and cultural expectations.
Everyone around me was super into dancehall and/ or reggae, and I was like 'yeah, this is nice’. But the FEEL of other genres like hip hop and alternative ANYTHING really connected more and I just felt 'yo, this is me', so I went with it.
Born Brandon Wedderburn, how did Fyah Roiall come to be?
'Roiall' was my father’s name and I'm gonna be everything he wasn't, from music and beyond; it's a long story. The 'fyah' just came from the fact I think I'm a pretty dope spitter, got some hot bars.
How did you first become involved with Australian producer Monkey Marc?
Dre Island flaked on a beat and I took the opportunity, killed it and the producer got interested in working with me and gained an appreciation for my work ethic and pace.
You'll soon be in Australia with Monkey Marc and Rider Shafique; what can audiences expect from these shows?
ENERGY! Pure energy, bruh. Vibes and bars. I'm myself on stage, I come alive and I have a way of making you feel me, so when I get on that stage feeling awesome, everyone seeing me gon [sic] feel awesome too.
Likewise, what are you hoping to get out of the experience for yourself?
The experience would be my experience. Honestly, all I wanna do in life is perform for people, make dope music and videos to keep 'em entertained and then perform some more, so yeah, the whole 'everything'.
Some places in Australia you'd like to visit while you're here?
Bruh, everywhere.
As a native Jamaican, how do you respond to American/ other Western artists who appropriate Jamaican culture such as slang and musical styles?
It's cute. That's about it, cute. . . can be disrespectful at times but on a whole it's cute, mad cute.
Take us to your home town for the day – where would we go, what would we see and do?
Mine? Personally? Or generally 'cause that's two different ball games. But either one would involve good vibes, good people (for the most part) and music; like all the time music everywhere, loud, and good food and bare weed.
Fyah Roiall 2019 Tour Dates
Fri 18 Oct - Max Watt's (Melbourne)Thu 24 Oct - Sideway (Canberra)
Fri 25 Oct - The Factory Floor (Sydney)
Sat 26 Oct - Island Vibe Festival (Brisbane)
*all shows part of Monkey Marc's Vital Sound tour
